S4 Kayaking #3 Willamette River at Buena Vista

 Buena Vista

Starting Location: Boat Ramp at Buena Vista Park

Point of Interest : Willamette River, just downstream from the confluence of Santiam and Luckiamute Rivers

Bathrooms: Yes, brand new vault toilets

Parking: just paved, with plenty of parking for trailers

EV Chargers: No

Rentals: No

Something that I don't think I've mentioned yet about kayaking is the interesting places and views you get on the way to the boat ramp. Buena Vista is pretty close to where we live, but I don't go this way unless we are going to kayak. The back roads and variety of crops we pass are always a fun part of the journey, especially if we are able to take different routes coming back.

This park and boat ramp was just redone, with newly paved parking lot, improved dock and boat ramp, and bathrooms.






The boat ramp is wide enough for 2 vehicles if they are good at backing up. The boat ramp area is easy to get in and out of. There is more space to the North side to pull your kayaks up on the bank.








As usual, we were heading upstream, which is pretty easy with our pedal kayaks. The West side of the river is pretty calm, and you don't have to fight the current. There are also places you can pull off to rest or swim.








The only place that's difficult is getting into the mouth of the Luckiamute River. We had to fight the current of the Willamette on a corner, and it seemed more difficult that before. However, we made it, and it was worth it.









The Luckiamute was almost glass. It is so calm. We ran into a few boaters, but it's very secluded. We took time to swim, and enjoyed the calm and quiet.

 Then we returned to the Willamette, which is easier to get into, followed the current back to the park.

Our float was about 3 hours. About 1 hour to get to the Luckiamute, an hour and a half floating and swimming, and then about half hour back to Buena Vista


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

S2.7 - Trillium Lake.

Image
  Trillium Lake is just past Government Camp, on the foothills of Mount Hood. The boat ramp area is decent, with a small loading and unloading area, and a pit toilet. There is a decent amount of parking, and we got there around 9am, so no trouble finding a spot. However, it got a lot busier as the day went on. There is a day use area on past the boat ramp, and that's where most people go who are just coming to swim. It's always nice to get that first glimpse of the water you will be floating for the day, but the view you get when you get to the bottom of the boat ramp is breathtaking. Everyone who comes down always stops to enjoy the view, and usually to take some pictures. During our time on the lake, I took quite a few breaks to just enjoy the view. And take lots of pictures. There is a day use area on one end of the lake, and a campground on another. A 2 mile trail goes around the lake, although part of it was closed when we were there. The campsites are spaced quite a ways
Read more

#6 - Ermie Walters - Alsea River

Image
  We went camping at Beachside, just south of Waldport. Our intent was to try the Alsea water trail, which starts at the mouth of the Alsea, heads upriver, and into Drift Creek. Leanna's sister was with us, and so we called around to rent a kayak for her to join us. The advice of the renter was to skip the water trail due to wind and waves, and head upriver about 19 miles to the Ermie Walters Boat Ramp . So we did. Ermie Walters is a nice boat ramp with decent parking lot for this far upriver. No bathrooms. There were 2 other cars in the parking lot. One waiting to rent kayaks, like us, and another belonging to a couple who had set up shop at the bottom of the boat ramp, and were cooking up some crawfish they had caught. Once our other kayak arrived, we put in. I got all the way in, unintentionally, as I was trying to get in my kayak. The water level was pretty low, and I had to pull my kayak into a deeper channel from the ramp. Just slipped on slippery rocks. Good news is the wat
Read more

S3.5 Larison Cove

Image
  We seem to be going back to places we've been before lately. This week was Larison Cove, in Oakridge, which we kayaked last year . However, the water level was much lower this time. Significantly lower.  This was also a fun practice at backing up the trailer down a long dirt road with lots of potholes, maneuvering around cars. Good times. 5 of us kayaked today, including Dody and her Drippy Plum kayak. No big adventures today, with calm, flat water. Also, very few other people here on a Saturday. I took this photo to help show how far the water level has fallen recently. And I also thought the texture looked cool.  There were a few places we couldn't get to this year because of the water level, smaller coves or inlets that we could navigate last year just didn't have water in them this year. We did see some turtles and a mama duck with 9 very small ducklings. The highlight of the float was getting out of the kayaks, and swimming. It wasn't super hot out, but there was
Read more